SIDELINES. Virginia Sports Turf Managers Association 2009 VSTMA FIELD DAY WRAP-UP. Don t Fall Down on the Job. In this issue: Featured Article: INSIDE

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1 SIDELINES Virginia Sports Turf Managers Association In this issue: 2009 VSTMA FIELD DAY WRAP-UP Featured Article: Don t Fall Down on the Job INSIDE President s Letter 2 On The Cover 3 Don t Fall Down Don t Fall Down 4 5 Don t Fall Down RainBird 6 7 Symposium 8 3rd Quarter

2 From the President: Hope to See You at Field Day Josh McPherson VSTMA President It sure was great to see everyone at Field Day this summer. I would like to thank Woodberry Forest, Dave Myers and his staff for hosting us. They have such wonderful fields and facilities. The pride and effort they take in their jobs is proof of that. Although it did rain for the education session we were able to move indoors to the field house and still provide the education you all came to receive. Thank you all for coming. I know many of you had to pay your own money to come this year. It is already time to start thinking about the next time we see each other. For the first time in 2 years the VTC Conference is not the same week as the STMA Conference. I would like to thank the VTC board and Tom Tracy for working with us to make sure we can attend both conferences. We are still going to continue our tradition of having a one day Winter Seminar at UVA. This will be an educational day and we will move the annual board meeting back to the VTC Conference on Wednesday afternoon. The VSTMA Board is currently discussing topics for the winter seminar; if there is anything you are interested in learning about please contact us. The fall sports season is here and I wish everyone good luck with their fields. I look forward to seeing you all in December and discussing how early the ryegrass went out, and how many athletic events we had to endure. I am sure all of your fields will look great and I hope being a member of this organization had some part in that. Best, Sports Turf Management Order this book from Pocahontas Press before they run out. Call Fax ( ) Mail Form: or com The book costs $31.20, includes tax and shipping. Shipping for a book is $5, and for each additional book is $0.50. Joshua McPherson VSTMA President and Manager, Athletic Field Maintenance Department of Parks and Recreation Government of the District of Columbia 2

3 2009 Field Day The 2009 VSTMA Field Days on June at Woodberry Forest School were another rousing success. Tuesday s Scholarship Golf Tournament at the historic 9-hole course on campus was held under ideal weather conditions and there were lots of interesting swings and shots displayed! The WFS tournament is always accentuated by an all sports hole featuring the use of driving the tee shot with a baseball bat, hitting the shots into the green by passing the golf ball with a lacrosse stick, and holing out the putt with field hockey Proudly Servicing Virginia s Sports Turf for Over 30 Years ROANOKE, VA Telephone: Fax: Toll Free: Jared Russell (Cell): CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA Telephone: Fax: Kyle Bickling (Cell): WILLIAMSBURG, VA Telephone: Fax: Neil Jones (Cell): RICHMOND, VA SOUTHSIDE Telephone: Fax: Toll Free: WESTEND Telephone: Fax: Toll Free: Bruce Adwell (Cell): sticks. The evening Pig Roast (hosted by Premier Sports Fields and Field Turf) and annual VT Turf Team Q&A session was attended by over 50 VSTMA members; the food was AWESOME and the evening was capped off with some lively discussion between the Tech team and VSTMA members. Dave Myers and WFS staff quickly responded to Wednesday morning s soaking rain by moving our educational programs and vendor displays indoors. Four main topics were covered during the Wednesday educational program: How Does Loss of MSMA Impact My Weed Management Program, Fertility Sources and Strategies that Balance Sports Turf Needs and Environmental Responsibility, Reel vs. Rotary Mowers, and Artificial Turf Installation and Management Tips. A special thanks to all our sponsors, (Hall-of-Fame) Herod Seeds Inc., Landscape Supply Inc., Premier Sports Fields, LLC, and Smith Turf and Irrigation (All Star), Carolina Green Corp., Field Turf, Luck Stone, Mid Atlantic Turf, and Southern States Coop. (Major League), Collins Wharf Sod Farm, G. L. Cornell, Oak Wood Sod, Rain Bird, Sherwin Williams, Virginia Green Lawn Care, Woodward Turf Farms Inc., for braving the weather with us and being flexible in setting up in the gymnasium, and to Landscape Supply for support of Wednesday s lunch. Please plan on joining us again at the 2010 VSTMA Field Days! 3

4 Don t Fall Down on the Job It s hard to believe but 2009 is almost ¾ complete and we are well into our busy fall sports seasons. I thought we might review some basic fall management principles that will help our chances of having the best possible playing surface this fall as well as next spring. Bermudagrass in was a particular challenge for most bermudagrass athletic field managers. Virginia experienced the most significant winterkill of bermudagrasses that it has seen in the last 15 years according to long-term residents. The damage occurred statewide and did not discriminate in bermudagrass varieties as I saw winter damage on even our most cold-hardy varieties. Worsham Field at Virginia Tech, during new grow-in of Patriot bermudagrass. I was anticipating a great year to see some varietal differences in winter hardiness in the 2007 NTEP bermudagrass trial at the Turfgrass Research Center at Virginia Tech (remember, our job is to kill grasses under controlled conditions so that you all make the best choices in varieties possible). Temperatures dipped below 0 twice (once just before Christmas, 2008, and again in the second week of January, 2009). We lost approximately 50% of Worsham Field due to winterkill, and yet less than 1 mile away, even the most cold intolerant bermudagrasses in our NTEP trial survived the winter with nary a sign of winter damage. How can this be? Well, the NTEP trial is maintained at 1 inch with a rotary mower and it is grown on a heavy textured, native soil. Worsham Field is maintained at ½ to ¾ inch and is a sand-based soil system, so even though the areas are close in location, the conditions in soil and maintenance are quite different. My observation on why I think there was so much bermudagrass lost last winter revolves around two major factors: 1) athletic fields lost bermudagrass in all of the heaviest trafficked areas (between the hashes and 30 yard lines; sidelines where players and coaches stand) and 2) fields that were mowed at heights less than 1 inch were more susceptible to damage. Now, I know that my colleagues on most college campuses can not raise the bermudagrass on the game field much above an inch and meet field playability expectations of the coaches and players. In these situations you keep your fingers crossed that the grass survives; most years it does, but was certainly an exception. How about those of you whose fields are not quite as visible. I know you take great pride in how low and tight you can maintain your bermudagrass, but as I used to tell my turf students Don t get cocky! Mother Nature will eventually remind you that she is in charge. Raising the bermudagrass mowing height to 1 to 1.5 inches from 0.5 to 0.75 inch can make the difference between living and dead bermudagrass in a challenging winter. 4

5 Don t Fall Down on the Job If adjusting height is a possibility at your site, the next important thing to remember is you can t wait to make the height adjustment 1 week before frost. This gradual raising in cutting height needs to be implemented at least 4 weeks out of your anticipated frost date. If you gradually raise the mowing height, it is unlikely your athletes and coaches will observe a change in playability. And in some cases, it will actually help spring playability by having more biomass to play on while the bermudagrass is dormant. Bermudagrass maintained at mowing heights less than an inch can sometimes play too fast in the spring because there isn t much cover remaining after fall traffic. Bermudagrass fields are likely weaker entering the fall than in most years because of what has been a persistently cool, cloudy, and wet summer. Therefore, making these adjustments in cutting heights are probably even more critical this year than in the past. What else should be done for bermudagrass fields this fall? Keep them actively growing as long as you can through responsible nutrition (sustained but low levels of N feeding until frost, ensuring that P, K, and ph are optimum) and irrigation. And if you overseed, you simply can t worry about the bermudagrass; adjust your manage strategies to promote your ryegrass and deliver your athletes the best cool-season playing surface possible. Cool-season fields. The cool, wet weather has been both good and bad for our bluegrass, ryegrass, fescue, and combination fields. Disease pressure has been higher this year, particularly with dollar spot pressure being very high on blue/rye fields, and brown patch has shown up late in the year with a last bit of warm, dry weather in late August/early September. Grub damage has also been very minimal until late in the summer, primarily because we have had so much moisture. Fall is the time to be aggressive in feeding your cool-season fields so be sure they are getting 1 lb of N/1000 sq ft per month from September through November. Also, take advantage of the ability to seed bank fields with ryegrass or fescue. Apply seed of these two grasses on a regular basis throughout the playing season to the most heavily trafficked areas. Rates of 5 to 10 lbs per 1000 sq ft only to these selected areas is what research at Cornell and Iowa State has shown to work. Keep the cool-season fields mowed frequently to encourage as much density as possible, but similar to warm-season fields, on heavily trafficked fields it can be advantageous to raise heights slightly as the season progresses to produce and/or maintain more biomass. A single mud game can destroy a season s worth of field management effort This applies to both cool- and warm-season turfgrasses grown on heavy textured, high clay content soils. Sometimes you have no say in whether or not a field is to be used, but be sure to educate your clientele on the Baseball infield covers come in standard and custom sizes. Ultimate Field Cover Protection Ultimate Field Cover Handling TARP MACHINE, attached to any 14 HP tractor equipped with a PTO, rolls the cover on and off the field in a minimum of time. The TARPMATE roller, in three standard lengths, stores any size cover. SEE FOR YOURSELF! Call, fax or for a free video, cover samples and our fact-packed fieldcover brochure. Full size covers for football and soccer fields are readily available COVERMASTER field covers are recommended by more groundskeepers than any other. Stadium Managers Ass'n FREE VIDEO MEMBER 2008, Covermaster Inc. VA STMA MASTERS IN THE ART OF SPORTS SURFACE COVERS TOLL FREE covermaster. com info@covermaster.com COVERMASTER INC., REXDALE, ON, M9V 5C3 TEL FAX

6 Don t Fall Down on the Job perils of playing on a saturated field an d take plenty of before and after photos to use to educate people the next time they desire to play on a wet field again. The damage from one mud game will persist until next season in most instances. Postponing games is inconvenient, sure, but it might be the difference in your athletes have a safe, playable field for months to come. Off-season management strategies publication goes to press VT sports turf graduate research assistant Nick McKenna and I co-authored an extension publication entitled Off-Season Manage- Virginia Tech Soccer Field renovation into Patriot bermudagrass. ment Strategies to Restore Safety and Playability of Athletic Fields for Spring Sports that has undergone peer review, been edited, and has now gone to our extension communication office for publication. This publication details a variety of cultural, chemical, and mechanical strategies in the fall and winter management of athletic fields that optimizes spring playing conditions. If you are interested in a draft version of this upcoming publication to put to work this fall, simply me at goatley@vt.edu. Mike Goatley, Jr., Extension Turfgrass Specialist at Virginia Tech, in the Crops and Soils Environmental Sciences Department and the Board Advisor for VST- MA. (goatley@vt.edu) 6

7 Testing your players and raising the bar on performance. That s intelligent. Sign up for your FREE audit at Schedule a FREE Rain Bird Distribution of Water Audit and Zone Change Out. See if water-efficient Rain Bird rotors can outperform your current lineup. We ll come test your existing irrigation system, then swap out the same zone with Rain Bird 5500/7005/8005 or Falcon 6504 Series rotors featuring Rain Curtain nozzle technology. Durable, safe and reliable, they deliver superior, uniform coverage using less water. Finding a solution that keeps your field in playable condition while cutting back on water use. Now that s The Intelligent Use of Water. 7

8 Prsrt Std U.S. Postage PAID Blacksburg, VA Permit No. 158 VSTMA Board Of Directors Josh McPherson, President Vince Henderson, Vice President Allison Moyer, Secretary Kevin Moore, Treasurer Sam Doak, Information Officer Dean Whitehead, Past President Chris Bassett Rodney Hopkins Marc Moran Dave Myers Jesse Pritchard Mike Skelton Please Join us for the 2009 VSTMA Symposium. on Dec. 3rd. It will once again be held at Scott Stadium on the Universtiy of Virgnia campus in Charlottesville. While preparations are still being made, we tentatively have Jessie Pritchard and Chad Price scheduled to discuss field preparation, conditions, and repair after the U2 concert scheduled for Oct 1st. For more details please visit: Mike Goatley, BOD Advisor VSTMA Professional Position Posting Positions are posted on If you have jobs available or you are looking for a job, please send your information to vstma@vstma.org. We will also post goods for sale or trade by non-vendors. Executive Assistant, Whitnee Askew vstma@vstma.org ~ VSTMA P.O. Box Blacksburg, VA S p o r t s Tu r f E v e n t s Calendar December 3, VSTMA Symposium, at UVA December 7-9, Turfgrass Short Course, Blacksburg, VA December 14-16, Turfgrass Short Course, Hampton Roads, VA January 18-21, 2010, VA Turf Conference, Fredricksburg, VA